Jorge Batlle

Jorge Luis Batlle Ibanez (25 October 1927-24 October 2016) was President of Uruguay from 1 March 2000 to 1 March 2005, succeeding Julio Maria Sanguinetti and preceding Tabare Vazquez. He was a member of the Colorado Party of Uruguay.

Biography
Jorge Luis Batlle Ibanez was born in Montevideo, Uruguay on 25 October 1927; he was a descendant of presidents Jose Batlle y Ordonez and Lorenzo Batlle y Grau. He was elected a congressman for the Colorado Party of Uruguay in 1958, and he unsuccessfully sought the presidency in 1966 to 1971. He finally won election in 2000, and he was determined to reduce public spending while preserving the macroeconomic balance; he also proposed legalizing cocaine to break the power of the drug cartels. He left office in 2005 and died in 2016.